Associate Director of Creative

Access Destination Services•Phoenix, AZ

14d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Associate Director of Creative Services (Live Events) is a senior leader responsible for defining, scaling, and driving creative vision, strategy, and execution standards for live events, meetings, and experiential programs across markets. Based in Arizona, the role manages an individual book of business while supporting and leading a team, and works closely with the Director of Creative in Denver. Travel throughout the territory is expected as needed to meet vendors, collaborate with team members, and support business needs. The role ensures creative work is grounded in real-world event execution, translating bold ideas into immersive, scalable, operationally sound experiences. It partners closely with Sales, Event Operations, and Executive Leadership so concepts are innovative, feasible, profitable, and executable within venue, budget, production, safety, and logistical constraints. The Associate Director also leads creative partner strategy, develops creative leaders, and advances systems and processes to improve consistency, scalability, and business outcomes across markets.

Requirements

The posting lists 7+ years of creative experience in a DMC or a related industry such as hospitality or events as a nice-to-have.
Comfort with Salesforce and the ability to understand and analyze reports, share insights, and identify trends are listed as nice-to-haves.
Verifiable knowledge and relationships in the specific local destination are listed as a nice-to-have.
Successful negotiation and relationship-building skills are listed as a nice-to-have.
At least 3 years of experience leading high-performing sales teams and achieving KPI targets are listed as a nice-to-have.
Strong experience with Social Tables, Canva, AI products, and diagramming is listed as a nice-to-have.
A proactive, solution-oriented mindset and initiative to contribute to individual and team success are listed as nice-to-haves.
A customer-service orientation and passion for hospitality and the special events industry are listed as nice-to-haves.
Ability to communicate effectively and build positive internal and external relationships is listed as a nice-to-have.
Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, changing environment while meeting deadlines and exceeding expectations is listed as a nice-to-have.

Nice To Haves

7+ years of creative experience in a DMC or a related industry such as hospitality or events.
Comfort with Salesforce and understanding of its features, including analyzing reports, sharing insights, and identifying trends.
Verifiable knowledge and relationships in the specific local destination.
Successful negotiation and relationship-building skills.
At least 3 years of experience leading high-performing sales teams and achieving KPI targets.
Strong experience with Social Tables, Canva, AI products, and diagramming.
A proactive, solution-oriented mindset and initiative to contribute to individual and team success.
Excellent customer service orientation and passion for the hospitality and special events industry.
Effective communication and ability to build positive relationships internally and externally.
Flexibility to thrive in a fast-paced, changing environment while meeting deadlines and exceeding expectations.

Responsibilities

Define and lead the creative vision for live events, meetings, and experiential programs across markets.
Ensure creative strategies account for how events are physically built, produced, and experienced by guests.
Establish standards for immersive environments, staging, entertainment, guest flow, and multi-day program design.
Drive innovation in event formats, environments, and experiential storytelling, and apply industry trends and cultural insights to event experiences.
Ensure consistent delivery of high-impact, executable event concepts across destinations.
Oversee creative direction for high-value and complex event proposals, ensuring they communicate the live experience and how concepts will be executed on-site.
Guide teams in developing guest experience narratives, spatial layouts, and experiential moments.
Partner with Sales and Events to align program scope, feasibility, and pricing.
Serve as the executive bridge between Creative, Sales, and Event Operations.
Ensure creative concepts align with venue capabilities, production timelines, labor, logistics, safety, guest flow, budget, and operational delivery.
Anticipate execution challenges across markets and implement scalable solutions and best practices.
Lead national strategy for event-focused creative partners, including production, entertainment, fabrication, and technical partners.
Build partnerships and initiatives that support large-scale live event execution, exclusive offerings, custom builds, and scalable event solutions.
Partner with Procurement and Finance to align partner strategies with creative goals and financial performance.
Lead and develop a national team of creative leaders, mentor Associate Directors and senior leaders, and build a pipeline of talent for complex live programs.
Establish a culture focused on designing for real environments, guests, and real-time execution; implement training in event production, logistics, and experiential design.
Lead long-term creative strategy to support revenue growth, client retention, market differentiation, and exceptional on-site execution.
Partner with Executive Leadership to position Access as a leader in experiential design and live event innovation, and align creative direction with operational realities and financial goals.
Establish systems and processes for efficient, scalable live event program development; lead capacity planning and resource allocation across markets.
Drive consistency in tools, workflows, and creative systems; anticipate changes in client demand and industry trends; and champion continuous improvement.
Consistently display Access Values: Imagine First, Demand Integrity, Embody Excellence, Always Collaborate, and Service Obsession.

Benefits

Annual and quarterly employee recognition awards.
Paid day off to serve the local community.
Annual all-company retreat.
Annual qualifier-based incentive trip for eligible departments.
Regional team outings and monthly companywide meetings.
Competitive total compensation, including base salary and quarterly bonuses.
Performance-based quarterly commission plans.
401(k) with company match up to 4% of salary after one year, immediately vested.
Monthly cell phone stipend.
Work-from-home opportunities and flexibility, including a full home office setup.
Flexible schedule opportunities.
Generous paid time off and sick days.
Nine full holidays, five half days before holidays, and two floating holidays.
Half-day Fridays in July and August based on achievement of goals.
Health plan options.
Paid parental leave.
Pet insurance program.
Employee Assistance Plan (EAP).
Mentorship program and industry- or department-specific masterclasses.
Technology platforms and tools with training.
Meetings featuring professional development content.